


Real or Not Real

by queeniesye



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997)
Genre: Angst, Canon Divergence, Canon Divergence - Final Fantasy VII, Cloti Fall Festival 2020, Disconnection, Distortion of Memories, Dreams, F/M, Flashbacks, Friendship/Love, Light Angst, One Shot Collection, dabble, myths, romance but not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:48:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27574744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queeniesye/pseuds/queeniesye
Summary: To save his beloved, Cloud Strife sought for the miracle pond deep within Mount Nibel.But what awaits him there will rob him of something precious.
Relationships: Cloud Strife/Tifa Lockhart
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8
Collections: CloTi Fall Festival 2020 (ClotiWeek)





	Real or Not Real

**Author's Note:**

> My entry for Day 6 of the Cloti Fall Festival 2020, Alternative Prompt: "If you came to me with a face I have not seen. With a voice I have never heard. I would still know you. Even if centuries separated us, I would still feel you. Somewhere between the sand and the stardust, through every collapse and creation, there is a pulse that echoes of you and I - Lang Leav"
> 
> I'm doing quite a jump here since it's only the 2nd day of the event but I reaaaally want to share this. 
> 
> My focus here is on exploring the question of: How can Cloud still remember Tifa when his memories are so distorted?

Deep within Mount Nibel, there is a pond.

It is the single most beautiful landmark that can be found in the barren wasteland that was once lush with greeneries.

The people of our village used to say that if you look at your reflection from the waters in the pond, you will summon a nymph who will grant your wishes… the ones you have expressed quite clearly, and the ones that are mere whispers of your hearts.

So I went… miserable 8 year old me, thinking that this myth will be the salvation I needed to save _her. She_ who have fallen from the brittle bridge of Mount Nibel, in search of her departed mother.

The pacing sound that my feet were making as I trudged through the rough grounds of the mountain and the feel of the rain as they pummelled against the softness of my skin remained in my memory, like grains stored in remote silos, waiting to be opened when the appropriate time beckoned.

It took me almost three hours to find the pond.

But when I found it… it was not the mystical sort that I had in mind. Yet, it was gratifying to have found the miracle that I was looking for. On the verge of tears, I fell to my knees before it. I could hear ravens croaking and the autumn night was growing cold. I knew that it was almost midnight and my mother must have been worried that I have disappeared but I did not care.

I needed to see the nymph.

So I bent my head down and found myself staring back at the distorted image of my face mirrored by the water… the face of a young boy that was lined with creases formed out of his anxieties. Two… three… four… and five minutes passed and nothing happened. I was growing impatient and had almost decided to leave but the thought of _her_ made me stay.

I did not know how much more time had passed but… all I knew was that I went into a daze. My reflection was no longer mine but of… a woman. It terrified me.

In disorientation, I swung myself rearward and fell onto my back. The woman leaped out… hair darker than the colour of coals and a pair of eyes as red as… _hers_? She was wearing… was wearing… I could not really recall what she was wearing. Oddly though, she was nowhere wet as I thought she would be. How could anyone not be, after leaping out of water?

“Did you call for me?” Her voice was forbearing and serene when I heard her ask for the first time.

I nodded, rather hesitantly. I found her presence to be unsettling… for some reason.

When she narrowed her eyes, I knew that she was peering into my heart. She asked me again, this time with a much sombre tone of voice, “What do I get in return if I save her like you want me to?”

“I… I have some money. It’s not… It’s not much but it’s all I can give to you!” I stammered, as I dived my hands into my pockets to retrieve the small amount of cash I took from my secret stash back at home.

The woman shook her head; she was growing vexed. “I don’t want your money.” She was glaring at me when she told me, “A life must be exchanged with something more precious.”

I swallowed hard. What else could an 8 year old offer that would be meaningful for a woman like her?

My silence must have prompted a smile to form on her lips. “How about this then… can you promise me that you’ll treasure her, at least?”

“Of… course! I always do!” I held my chest high as I made my declaration, rather cocky for an 8 year old boy.

She chuckled again. “Good…” Then she looked directly into my eyes and said, “In case you forget… I’ll always be around to remind you.”

I think… I must have been cursed on that day because I might have left the place and never returned again, but no matter what I do… that woman stayed in my mind like a phantom…

As though I have broken my promise to her when I never really did.

Or did I?

***

What time is it? Where am I? How did I end up here? I cannot even see where I am. It is all blurry.

I think I heard a woman asking, “Are you alright?”

But my head is all jumbled. It is throbbing and driving me insane.

I cannot find the right words to say what I want to say to her.

The woman is approaching me… and now she is kneeling down to look me in the face.

I still cannot quite see… but the woman I met by the pond… it is as though she had merged herself with the woman that is now staring at me.

The woman in front of me became the very image of her.

Then I remember her words: _In case you forget… I’ll always be around to remind you_.

There is only one reason why the woman would remind me of her again.

“Uh… uh… Tifa?” I jump up to call the name of my beloved once more, “Tifa!”

The woman in front of me furrowed the space between her eyebrows as she studied my face intently. “Oh, Cloud!”

My heart skipped a beat knowing that she remembers me but I have to pretend like I am cool. “That’s right. I’m Cloud.” 

“Is it really you, Cloud? I never thought I’d find you here!”

Why is she still doubting me? Oh, right. I have been gone for quite a while, after all.

“Yeah, it’s been a while.”

***

That is how the woman will appear in my mind.

When I think I am forgetting something about Tifa, she will come to remind me.

But sometimes… I catch Tifa looking distraught when I speak of the years we were not around one another… or that Nibelheim tragedy.

Did I remember wrongly?

Or is the woman distorting my memories?

Wait. Did I ever meet that woman? Or was it just a dream?

**Author's Note:**

> This story is really an account of how Cloud could have possibly preserved and projected the image of Tifa in his mind, which is through memories that were missing in several pieces. 
> 
> His 'real' memories of Tifa are essentially the precious thing that were taken away.


End file.
